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Puerto Madero, Buenos Aires, Argentina

Puerto Madero is a neighborhood, or barrio, of the Argentine capital, Buenos Aires, which occupies a significant portion of the Río de la Plata riverbank.

History

In the 1930s, port facilities were relocated to the Puerto Nuevo ("new port"), 1 km to the north, and most of the older brick warehouses were all but abandoned. In the 1990s, local and foreign capitals invested in a massive gentrification effort, recycling the west side warehouses into lofts and restaurants, and adding some new hotels and office buildings, mostly in the east side. A new marina was built in the northernmost dock. In the 2000s the process continued, and more hotels, office and apartment buildings, both low rise and high rise have been built. Currently more buildings are under construction in the east side, including the Repsol-YPF tower by Cesar Pelli and a mixed use complex by Foster, the latter part of Faena's Porteño Art District. Recently, development has started in the last undeveloped part of the neighborhood, the east side of Dock 1, where infrastructure is been set and the first buildings are rising. According to current plans Dock 1 will not have high rises because of height limitations of about 20 storeys.

Transportation

The neighborhood's road network has been entirely rebuilt, especially in the east side. The layout of the east side consists currently on three wide boulevards running east-west crossed by east side's main street, Juana Manso Avenue. The layout is completed with some other avenues and minor streets, running both east-west and north-south, and by several pedestrian malls.

An expressway connecting the north and the south of the city trough Puerto Madero has long been in the planned stages. Several alternatives have been considered, including elevated, at-grade and underground, and even an underwater proposal by private developer Julio Torcello, which would had run under the four docks (this last proposal was dismissed as impossible to build. All proposals have received criticism: the elevated and at-grade options because they would mean a barrier between Puerto Madero and the rest of the city, and the underground because of the costs and the negative impacts during construction. Placing the expressway outside the city, between Puerto Madero and the Costanera Sur Natural Preserve has also been considered, but has received strong opposition from environmentalists. All the streets of Puerto Madero are named after women. The Puente de la Mujer (Women's Bridge), by architect Santiago Calatrava, is the newest link between east and west sides of Puerto Madero.

Currently a light rail line is being built alongside the west side's main street, Alicia Moreau de Justo Avenue, the Tranvía del Este, wich is planned to open later this year. But even after this effort is completed, the neighborhood will not be well connected to the city's transit network. Few bus lines run trough the neighborhood, and no subway line reaches it. Currently there are no official plans to extend the subway network to the neighborhood.